Ludwig von Mises on Why Resistance Is Not Futile

In his classic treatise, "Liberalism," written in the 1920s, Ludwig von Mises wrote some amazingly relevant comments concerning Barack Obama's budgetary demands and the current negotiations between the Republicans and Democrats on the "fiscal cliff":
The technique of these parties is based on the division of society into producers and consumers. They are also wont to make use of the usual hypostasis of the state in questions of fiscal policy that enables them to advocate new expenditures to be paid out of the public treasury without any particular concern on their part over how such expenses are to be defrayed, and at the same time to complain about the heavy burden of taxes.
The other basic defect of these parties is that the demands they raise for each particular group are limitless. There is, in their eyes, only one limit to the quantity to be demanded: the resistance put up by the other side. This is entirely keeping with their character as parties striving for...(Read Full Post)